From Broken Fragments to a Beautiful Design
Restoring What Is Broken
A Monthly Publication of the Church Ambassador Network
In the book of Nehemiah, we see a leader heartbroken by a city in ruins. Not only did he mourn the rubble, but he also took it upon himself to rally the community to rebuild the wall, family by family, station by station. Today, as we look across the Buckeye State, we see a different kind of “wall” that has crumbled: the foundational sequence of life that leads to flourishing families and stable communities.
For many pastors in the pulpit, the results of this collapse are a daily reality. We see the young couples struggling under the weight of debt and unplanned crises. We see the "rubble" of a culture that has told our youth that their choices don't have an order, and the data shows the staggering price our next generation is paying.
Rebuilding the Foundations of the Family
The groundbreaking 2025 Hope and a Future report, released by Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies, reveals a sobering truth: when the natural order of life is ignored, poverty and instability follow.
However, there is a proven path forward.
Just this past month, testimony was heard in the Ohio Statehouse on Senate Bill 156, a move to integrate the "Success Sequence" into our schools.
The data is undeniable: 97 percent of young people who follow three simple steps—graduate high school, maintain a full-time job, and marry before having children—avoid poverty.
As CCV Policy Executive Director David Mahan noted during his testimony before the House Education Committee (Feb. 2026):
"We must prioritize building strong children today to avoid the high cost of rebuilding broken adults tomorrow."
Restoring the “Moral Map”
Something has been missing in our cultural “imaginary” (a vision of life that recognizes God’s design for timing and commitment). For too long, we have allowed the secular culture to suggest that marriage is a "capstone" to be achieved only after everything else is perfect, rather than the "foundation" upon which a life is built.
But a shift is happening.
We see it in the legislative courage to tell students the truth about their futures. It is not "judgmental" to provide a map to a traveler who is lost; it is an act of the highest compassion. In his masterpiece The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis describes the home as the vital place where we learn the most fundamental form of love, Affection, noting that:
"It lives with humble and private things; soft slippers, old clothes, old jokes, the ‘unbuttoned’ relaxation of home... it can 'rub along' with the most unpromising people." (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, Chapter 3).
When we restore the sequence that protects the home, we restore the very "quiet place" where the human soul is first taught how to love and be loved.
A Biblical Call to “Repair the Breach”
Isaiah 58:12 promises that God’s people will be called the “repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”
This is our spiritual mandate. Rebuilding the wall of the family in Ohio requires more than just school curriculum; it requires the Church to speak with clarity and courage. We must move beyond the fear of being "counter-cultural" and begin to re-celebrate the beauty of God’s order.
What Can We Do?
Pastors, we are the architects of this rebuilding project. Here is how we can lead:
Preach a Robust Theology of the Family: Use resources from the Tom Minnery Fellowship for Cultural Engagement to equip your church with a biblical worldview.
Register for the 2026 Essential Summit to hear from leaders like Rosaria Butterfield, Bishop Patrick Wooden, and Frank Turek on how to engage the culture with grace and truth.
Learn how your church can become a hub for marriage and family restoration that leads people to the most important relationship of all - Jesus.
The wall is in ruins, but the foundation remains. Let us pick up our trowels and rebuild.
Are you ready to join the movement of pastors standing for the family in Ohio?
The Church Ambassador Network is a ministry of Center for Christian Virtue. They exist to serve and resource the Church in Ohio to understand the times and know how to respond. Read more about their mission at ccv.org/can.
